Moni's TENT Trans Lobby Day Speech

This is the full text of the TENT Trans Lobby Day speech I gave on the north steps of the state capitol building earlier this morning,

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To Emmett Schelling and the TENT leadership team,  the Texas NASW leadership team, my fellow trans Texans, you Mama and Papa Bears,you citizen lobbyists, friends and allies in attendance.

It is a tremendous honor, blessing and privilege to be standing before you today as we prepare to head into the Pink Dome and lobby our state legislators and senators for our human rights. And since I am the TransGriot. I needed to take a moment to drop your trans history on you before we send you on your way to lobby your state reps and state senators.  

Our job today, citizen lobbyists is very simple. It is to advocate for just laws to get enacted and do our best to ensure that unjust laws don’t pass this session.

So what is a just law versus an unjust law?   As the Rev Dr Martin Luther King so eloquently put it in his 1963 ‘Letter From Birmingham City Jail’, ‘Any law that uplifts human personality is just. Any law that degrades human personality is unjust.”

Translation:  if you’re trying to pass laws that denigrate marginalized communities and people you don’t like, it is an unjust law.   If you’re trying to pass laws that uplift people, they are just laws.

I had fun reminding Sen. Lois Kolkhorst and Lt Governor Dan Patrick of that point two years ago. I will continue to drive that point home to any legislator who believes their dry as dust religion gives them the right to oppress and discriminate against people they don’t like..

I’m happily here in the ATX with you a mere 26 days before my 25th transition anniversary on April 4.  I’m also here exactly 20 years to the day I made my first trip to Austin to participate in a trans specific lobby day.   

I’m also doing so with a heavy heart.   Sarah DePalma, one of our trans elders who was the former executive director of TENT’s progenitor organization TGAIN, the Texas Gender Advocacy Information Network, passed away a few weeks ago at age 67   Her memorial service is today. .

She not only was TGAIN’s executive director, she also headed an early national trans rights organization called It’s Time America   She was proudly standing up for our human rights in the late 80’s, 90’s and early 2000’s, and walked these Capitol building halls multiple times.

Sarah was also along with Phyllis Frye one of my activist mentors.   She was standing up for trans rights before I transitioned in 1994. She was a co host on KPFT-FM’s ‘After Hours’ show

As TGAIN’s executive director, DePalma also organized trans lobby days over multiple Texas legislative sessions.   She fought for trans inclusion in lesbian and gay orgs resisting it until Parkinson’s Disease started affecting her in 2005.

We in Texas and the nation are indebted to our transcestor for being a fierce warrior for our community.

DePalma wrote in a 1994 letter a comment that was published by the This Week In Texas LGBTQ magazine that I’m going to remix here  “Transgender people and drag queens cannot be hidden without our cooperation, and we refuse to hide. Get used to it, Texas.”

May we please take time to honor Sarah DePalma by having a moment of silence in her memory? Thank you

It’s roll call time!  What part of the Lone Star State are you peeps from?.  Dallas-Fort Worth-North Texas, where y’all at? East Texas?   The Beaumont-Port Arthur-Orange Golden Triangle? The Rio Grande Valley?  West Texas? The Panhandle? San Antonio? Austin? Central Texas? Houston, are y’all in the house?

Raise your hands if this is the first time you have participated in a trans lobby day or a lobby day of any kind.  

Whether this is your first time or you’re a veteran of these events like me, I want to take the opportunity to thank you for taking time out of your busy lives to let your legislators know that your human rights are precious to you.

There are nearly one million of us TBLGQ Texans in the Lone Star State.   If all of the estimated 930,000 of us were living in our own fabulous rainbow flavored city, we would be the fifth largest city by population in Texas.  It would also be a city that had non discrimination protections for its citizens, something that the unjust SB 15 wants to take away.

And note to all you politicians within and beyond the sound of my voice.   We LGBTQ Texans vote in EVERY election cycle..

As I mentioned, I first ventured to Austin for a trans lobby day in 1999.   The political landscape was different at that time. George W Bush was our governor.   The Texas House had a six seat Democratic edge, and a one seat Republican one in the Texas Senate.

We had a modest goal of getting included in the James Byrd Hate Crimes bill and getting a TGAIN sponsored name change bill passed that would take the name change process out of the Texas court system and make it an administrative process.

While we weren’t successful in doing so in 1999, what we did accomplish was visiting all 150 house offices and all 31 Texas senators despite having about 20 people to do so who were predominately from Houston, San Antonio, and Austin.

Today that torch on the name change legislation has been picked up by Reps Jon Rosenthal with HB 1835, HB 2089 by Rep. Garnet Coleman, and Sen. Jose Rodriguez with SB 154.

We’re also still trying to get included in the Byrd Hate Crime bill, and Rep Coleman has sponsored HB 1513 to make that happen    

One of the things we didn’t have 20 years ago that we do now is the support of many organizations like the Texas chapter of the National Association of Social Workers, PFLAG, Equality Texas, and HRC,

Texas based organizations now exist that advocate for the issues of trans people of color like the Dallas based Black Trans Advocacy Coalition founded by Carter Brown, and the Houston based Organization Latina de Trans in Texas founded by Ana Andrea Molina   

We also have fighting alongside of us the parents of transgender kids that we lovingly call Mama and Papa Bears.   They have been invaluable, along with our trans kids themselves, in dispelling the myths and stereotypes that crop up about trans people, and even getting legislators through their lobbying efforts to change their minds about unjust legislation and pass    

The trans kids have also been some of our best community ambassadors for spreading the word that trans people exist, and that we are an undeniable part of the diverse mosaic of human life.

And everything we are doing here on March 7, 2019 is to ensure that 20 years from now the Kai Shappleys, Libby Gonzales’ and Zuri’s of our state who are in elementary and middle school don’t have to come here to lobby every session for basic human rights coverage.

I want them to be building upon the trans lobbying work we do in our Capitol today. But since I’m still doing this work 20 years later, I won't be surprised if I'm still blessed to be around in 2039 to witness it that I will probably see them doing so on behalf of our community

Yes, Trans Lobby Day is about our trans and gender non conforming kids and making life better for future generations .  Some of what we elders do here we may never reap the benefits of it. But if it does happen for us trans elders sooner than that, that’s all good as well.  

Texas trans kids, here’s a message to you from your Aunt Moni.  I and your trans elders will fight for you with every fiber of our unapologetic trans beings   You are our future. We will do our utmost to make it a great one for you. So dream big, get those good grades, make friends with people who unconditionally love you, and be better quality people than the bullies who irrationally hate on you.

One of the things we also have going for us now we didn’t have in 1999 was the overwhelming support of the business community.   They said it loud and clear in 2017 and before this session started that they see diversity as a core principle of their businesses, and discrimination hurts their bottom line.  

Target and Victoria’s Secret are excellent examples of what I’m talking about here.   Target just reported their best earnings since 2005 and business is booming for them.  Meanwhile a business that went in the opposite direction in Victoria’s Secret is seeing lackluster sales and is  closing 58 stores.

Bigotry costs you money   As North Carolina proved in the wake of the passage of the unjust and transphobic HB 2, it can also cost you convention and hospitality business and sporting events that bring in millions of dollars to your state's economy. .  

We also have increasing support from progressive pastors who have no problem telling the world we trans people are God’s children despite whatever faux faith based anti-trans hate speech Dave Welch, Jonathan Saenz, Steven Hotze and other Texas right wing hate mongers keep putting out there.

I also must give thanks to the people in the social work, education, media and medical communities who unequivocally support our human rights struggle and fight back against the ignorance and attempts to demonize and dehumanize our community.

In closing I want to salute you citizen lobbyists and give you a few pro tips.   Relax, take a deep breath and don’t be scared to talk to your state senators and state reps.  Yes, they reprepresent you here in Austin and have the power to write legislation, but the bottom line is that they still work for you.

Frankly, your legislators and staffers enjoy talking to a constituent who made the effort to come to Austin from their district far more than they do some paid corporate lobbyist with an expense account who is here in the Pink Dome nearly every day    

Know your bill numbers and the basics of what they do when you talk to staffers and legislators so they can be on the alert for them when that bill hits their committee or the floor  They can also tell you where they are in the legislative process as well in their respective chamber.

Please and thank you works, especially in liberal progressive offices that get a constant barrage of nasty calls from our loud and wrong opposition.   Thank them for doing their demanding jobs and being legislative supporters of our TBLGQ community.

And before you leave Austin, take some time to get to know some of your fellow citizen lobbyists here today.  You may make a lifelong friend before this day is over.

Your authenticity is your strength as a citizen lobbyist.  You have a unique story to tell, so tell as much of that story to your reps and the legislative assistants in their offices as you feel comfortable in doing.  

You don’t have to be perfect.   Just be the beautifully human people I know all of you are.  

Moni's Take on the Rev.Wright-Obama Controversy

As the child of a retired media personality, one of the things my father drilled into me and my siblings was don't believe what you read in the papers (and the Net), hear on radio and see on television at first glance. You have to always ask the who, what, when, where and why questions. You ask yourself why is this coming out now, what's their agenda, and who's behind it.

My father's words were ringing in my ears when I first heard about the alleged hostile remarks of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright. I didn't go into 'Attack Obama' mode like it seems that some whites have done who were looking for ANY excuse to NOT support him. I went into critical thinking mode.

I also considered where this video was coming from. FOX News.

This is a proven Republican propaganda mill that has repeatedly demonstrated its willingness to lie, obfuscate, and bend the truth to accomplish its mission of electing GOP candidates.

The GOP is scared shitless that they will have to face Obama in the fall and contend with the massive voter turnouts and new voters that he would not only bring into the process, but swamp their candidates in a Democratic landslide. GOP electability is dependent upon low turnout elections. The more people brought into the process, the higher the probability of Democratic candidates for office getting elected.

The GOP has a long, negative history of using race baiting to boost their electoral chances, bait and switch campaigning and voter suppression tactics in minority communities to win elections. They were faced with a situation in which their old tried and true tactics weren't going to work. They were originally salivating at the prospect of a race with Hillary Clinton and had to find some way to negatively define Obama without looking racist as they always do.

Enter Faux News, Rev. Wright and edited video played in an endless loop with faux indignation spewing out of various conservative commentators mouths. I do find it interesting that this selectively edited video comes out not long after the GOP had a closed door strategy meeting a few weeks ago about how they were going to combat Sen. Obama's surging popularity and was timed to appear while Sen. Hillary Clinton's executing her 'kitchen sink' strategy.

By the way, here's the so-called 'hate sermon' in context.



Since when did non journalism award winning Fox News become a trusted news source? I'm a little sick of news organizations like CNN and others treating the propaganda arm of the Republican party as a news source.

But back to this controversy. It's interesting as well that this so-called 'hate-mongering' pastor was invited to this September 11, 1998 White House gathering of clergy that President Clinton held during the height of the Lewinsky scandal (and BTW, Sen Hillary's just released First Lady schedules show that she was there in attendance.)

Ask yourself this question. If Rev. Jeremiah Wright is such a 'hate mongerer', then why was he invited to this event?

I also find the hypocrisy and racism inherent in this high-tech lynching of Rev. Wright breathtaking. The conservative media is all over the edited out-of-context video of Rev Wright's sermons, but no similar sustained foaming-mouth outrage from my white brothers and sisters is forthcoming at Rev. Rod Parsley or McCain spiritual advisor John Hagee, who have longer histories of saying anti-American statements and jacked up comments.

Gee, I wonder why?

Hagee and Parsley have in the name of God, accused Catholics of aiding in the Holocaust, said that the victims of Hurricane Katrina got what they deserved, advocates wiping out more than a billion Muslims, and the fact that John McCain has enthusiastically solicited the support of people he once called 'divisive and dangerous' in 2000 is ignored.

What's even sadder is that the parishioners of Trinity UCC are being savaged by race-baiting conservative pundits who have no clue, don't want to know or don't care about our culture. What's even sadder is that people in my own party are repeating the Faux News talking points ad nauseum without asking themselves why Rev. Wright and this church is being attacked.

I also have to laugh at the conservative definition of racism, which is basically any Black person who is not only unabashedly proud of their heritage, but has the cojones to criticize this country, point out the reality of the color line and how it affects everything in this country.

Hell, I've been accused by some peeps in the transgender community of being 'racist' despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary. Jasmyne Cannick has also had the same 'racist' charge hurled at her because she's unapologetically Black as well and has called out the GLBT community on numerous occasions on her blog and in the various media forums she participates in for their racist behavior on various issues.

Y'all can fall for the Faux News okey-doke, or the bogus racism charges from Limbaugh, Hannity, O'Reilly and the rest of the GOP-Conservative Noise Machine if you want to, but the facts are that racism is alive and well in this country. I've been saying it for years along with others and now this discussion is for better or worse, happening during a presidential political campaign.

One of the fears I'd expressed when I announced on the blog that I was supporting Sen. Obama in an earlier post was that some white people have higher than normal expectations for an African-American candidate than they do for a similar white candidate. An African-American candidate has to almost walk on water to get support from these peeps, and if they grudgingly give him that support, they are quick to abandon him if any bullcrap surfaces.

That is what I fear is happening now. I felt that much of the early white support for Obama was because of the fact he wasn't in their minds tied to the old Civil Rights Movement peeps, which some whites still harbor ill will to even in my own party. Obama also didn't feed into the 'angry Black' stereotype that some peeps still tar and feather any African-American who dares to think and candidly speak their mind with.

It's ironic that the best man for the job, who tried to avoid discussing race and run an issues-oriented campaign, may possibly end up not getting the nomination or end up in the White House because of the unresolved racial baggage of this country.

And that would be a tragedy.

Show Up & Sell Us Out

Last night I got drafted by my aunt for a midnight run to Bellville, TX helping my cousin and his wife move a mattress and boxsprings to their apartment.  On the drive back to Houston Praise 92.1 was playing the Dottie People's gospel song 'Show Up & Show Out' which was released in 2000 and I love  

Halfway through it the lyrics popped up in my head for my latest song rewrite.  It's rooted in the ongoing HB 235 controversy and the increasingly intolerable tendency of gay rights orgs that purport to be TBLG orgs to either cut us out of legislation,  propose piss poor incremental crap that doesn't do a thing to fix our pressing problems and attempt to muzzle and silence our voices when we criticize their tactics.

Y'all know the drill.  grab those iPods and sing along with Moni's remixed lyrics.   Trans sellouts and your Gay, Inc enablers,  for all you do, this song's dedicated to you.

Hit it.!

Show Up & Sell Us Out
(Sung to the tune of Show Up & Show Out by Dottie Peoples

Chorus:
(Gay, Inc will) show up
(Then they will) sell us out.

(Gay, Inc will) show up
(Then they will) sell us out.

(Gay, Inc will) show up
(Then they will) sell us out.

Gay, Inc will show up and sell us out.

 
When transpeople get the notion to be uppity,
Gay, Inc didn’t have not one worry.
Gay, Inc creates an org and gives a Quisling clout,
Then turns them loose upon us to sell transpeople out 

(Gay, Inc will) show up
(Then they will) sell us out.

(Gay, Inc will) show up
(Then they will) sell us out.

(Gay, Inc will) show up
(Then they will) sell us out.

Gay, Inc will show up and sell us out.

Transpeople are yearning for civil rights victory
Over trans hate squarely aimed at you and me.
But it's becoming clear, and the world doesn't have a doubt,
When Gay Inc orgs show up in your town, they sell transpeople out.

(Gay, Inc will) show up
(Then they will) sell us out.

(Gay, Inc will) show up
(Then they will) sell us out.

(Gay, Inc will) show up
(Then they will) sell us out.

Gay, Inc will show up and sell us out.


[Vamp 1:]
Show up, sell us out.

[Vamp 2:]
Sell us out 

[Ending:]
Gay, Inc will show up and sell us out,
Gay, Inc will show up and sell us out,
Gay, Inc will show up and sell us out,
sell us out!

TERF's Now Come In The Sellout Kneegrow Variety

One of the things I'm consistently amused by is the lengths the TERF's will go to hate on little ol' truth telling about their azzes me.

They know that I will swiftly point out their TERF ranks are chock full of predominately white stuck in the 70's females with massive privilege, a boulder sized rock on their shoulders, and mad they weren't born as white men with the power to oppress people at the same level.

They have tried and failed to confront me over the years because they are similar in their thought processes to right wing Republicans in that they are stuck in reciting their convoluted devoid of logic dogma.  I have over a decade of practice in deconstructing their BS while giving zero phucks calling them out as they cry tasty vanilla flavored White Women's Tears.

So they tried a new tactic and sent the TERF Kneegrow Auxiliaries after yours truly. 

Seriously?  If Moni gives zero phucks in calling you white womyn gone wild out, what made you think I was gonna go easy on your Kneegrow TERF Auxiliaries?

The first one was someone I used to know in the Louisville progressive activist community who went to the Hart, MI Hatefest, stepped on 'The Land' and is now spouting their rhetoric.  She complained in a post I had written on my FB page a month ago that 'TERF was a slur', and I patiently tried to point out to Tanisha it wasn't.

You're probably driving to The Land for the last MichFest, so let me repeat it for you once again.

TERF stands for Trans Exterminationalist (Exclusionary) Radical Feminist, and it is a truth in advertising label created by feminists tired of y'all so called 'gender critical feminists' contaminating their brand.

You don't like the TERF description, take it up with your fellow feminists. If you don't want to be called a TERF, there's a simple pathway to follow to not be called one.  Don't emulate their reprehensible behavior or spout their transphobic rhetoric and we trans folks won't have to call you out about it. 

Am I happy this is the last MichFest?  You damned skippy!   I and other trans women are gleefully celebrating the self inflicted demise of an event that was founded by a longtime trans oppressor and transphobe in Lisa Vogel.   It unfortunately was molded in her TERF image to train cis women like you to hate trans people.

And I'm saddened you drank the TERF Kool-Aid.

If you are too clueless as a Black woman to not see the over four decades of TERF oppression of trans womyn (or are deliberately choosing to ignore it) and side with white womyn stuck in the 70's that hate your Black behind, too then you can exit my Facebook page and never speak to me again.

The second kneegrow I'm about to put on blast is one I was warned about by Diwa Cain, one of my Seattle based BTAC brothers.  He shot me a Facebook message a month ago expressing his concerns about Jaqueline Sephora Andrews, a local Black(?)  trans woman who has been saying some jacked up anti-trans crap that has him and other Seattle area trans leaders concerned .

Andrews calls herself a 'gender critical transwoman' which is the latest TERF speak codeword for " I'm gonna be as transphobic as I wanna be."   The fact a trans woman calls herself that is laughable and mind numbingly delusional at best.

Andrews has attacked and repeatedly misgendered Caitlyn Jenner, thrown barbs at Janet Mock up to calling her a misogynist, expressed support for anti-trans bathroom bills and leveled an attack at Jazz Jennings and by extension all trans kids by claiming that their parents allowing them and other trans kids to transition is child abuse. 

And she got my attention and subsequently got on my bad side by misgendering moi and Fallon Fox on Twitter.  That's NOT a place you need to or should ever want to be.

If you wanted my attention, you self hating rhymes with itch, now your cookie chomping sellout ass has got it, sir.. Caitlyn, Janet and Jazz and her family are going to take the high road and ignore your azz. 

I'm going WMMA on your clueless Uncle Ruckus wannabe behind  

One thing I despise more than racists and human rights oppressors is kneegrow sellouts who collude with them for whatever reason.   And I damned sure don't like Jaqueline, an (alleged) Black trans woman gleefully spouting TERF rhetoric.   It's especially problematic that you're doing so on your two bit three hit so-called blog that I'm not even going to link to for your TERF/HBS/-TS separatist fuckery after people in the Seattle area have tried to reason with you and point out what you are saying is some phucked up crap.

Your ass has never been to a trans conference, much less interacted with your local trans community, and you have the nerve to spout harmful TERF rhetoric at people who are doing more to advance the human rights of trans people and especially trans people of color than your shady azz.

Who the phuck are you to insult Jazz, Janet, Fallon, Caitlyn and moi, who have done more collectively and individually to advance the human rights of transpeople of all ethnic backgrounds than your no interaction with the Seattle trans community don't know and don't care when you started transitioning behind?

So let me put this in terms I'm sure you'll understand:  Get thee behind me TERF wannabe Satan.

And you know you've earned a Shut Up Fool Award nomination for this week as well.

Why I STILL Won't Vote For Conservafools

I have a diverse collection of people in my life who encompass a wide variety of political thought up to and including conservatives. 

The country club ones, not the batturd crazy wing.

But lately I've been getting pushback on my Facebook page from a few of them who have objected to my scathing critiques of the conservafool movement and tried to challenge me using Fox Noise talking points that are awash in vanillacentric privilege they continue to fail to acknowledge.

This post is the result of a series of conversations and response to one of my friend's charges that in his point of view, he has the opinion I think the Democratic party is perfect.

I never said the Democrats were. There are things I don't like that they do. There are policy directions such a universal health care I'm disappointed they haven't been more aggressive on in enacting.  I would like to see them more forcefully call the Republicans out for what they are in terms of being neo-fascist anti-intellectual extremist bigots.

I've been made aware of in my lifetime that conservatives as a whole don't like my people. Individual Republicans may not feel that way and resent it when we slam the conservative movement they are personally aligned with.

But in these hyperpartisan times when there is a clear Grand Canyon wide chasm between the policies advocated by Democrats and Republicans, that 'vote the person not the party line' spouted by people is bull feces.  The party you choose to support gives me a major clue about what type of human being you are and an insight into your personal values.   It also gives me a major clue as to how you will govern if you gain control of the government at whatever level and how you will use that power. 

From where I sit, the 2012 edition of the conservative movement and the GOP is not one that is worthy of my time, much less my precious vote because the conservamajority consensus that comes from your movement, your GOP party that is the political arm of your movement, the media that supports it, and the vanillacentric policies and the policies that it promotes are seen by myself and other persons of color as relentlessly racist and hostile to our political and economic interests.

So naw conservatives, I can't in good conscience as someone who loves her people vote for Republicans .
Another thing I have observed over my lifetime is that when Republicans have attacked mine and my people's human rights, it was Democrats I saw repeatedly standing up to resist it.   It was Democrats who called out the bigotry and racism while Republicans were united in cricket chirping silence about it.

It is Democrats who have the policy agenda, desire and attempt to spend their political capital on policies that help urban America while you Republicans denigrate it.and oppose those policies while coming up with the same warmed over supply-side conservabull feces that we know doesn't work.  .     

It is Democratic candidates who repeatedly come to my community and respectfully ask for my vote.  You conservafools seek to come up with any excuse to ignore and disrespect my community while suppress its paid for in blood ability to vote.

I know and my community knows when we have been spit upon.  So  don't even try to disrespect our intelligence and attempt to tell us that it's raining.  We don't watch Fox News so that baa baa conservasheep routine doesn't work on us. 

Neither does sending cookie chomping sellouts to parrot the same policies and anti-Black remarks uttered on a regular basis by conservative white pundits.

So if you can't stand me and my people, and you have repeatedly  demonstrated through deeds and words when you get power you will use it to oppress me and my people, why would I be foolish enough to vote for representatives of a GOP that make it quite clear that they hate me and the policies they pursue will have deleterious effects on my life?

So naw, Moni and the African-American community ain't going out like that.   When you conservafools make up your minds that you will stand up for my community like the Democrats have done for over four decades and you come up with policies that fix the problems that ail my community, then I might start listening.

Until then, every election day I'm voting for people with D's behind their name on the ballots..

Moni's Going To NFL Prognosticate This Season

When the 92nd NFL regular season finally kicks off on September 8 with a battle at Lambeau Field between the defending Super Bowl champion Green Bay Packers and 2010 Super Bowl champs the New Orleans Saints, there's going to be a new feature on TransGriot I will initiate and continue all the way to Super Bowl XLVI in Indianapolis on February 5, 2012.

For fun I used to pick the winners of NFL regular season games back in the 80's and 90's and was pretty good at it, but lost interest in keeping up with NFL football for a few years after the Tennessee Traitors backstabbed all us long suffering Oiler fans and moved in 1997.

Naw, I'm still not letting it go, even though we have the Houston Texans playing in Reliant Stadium .      

Ahem, back to the post.  I can get my football hate on for 'Bottom Line Bud' Adams and the Traitors twice a year when they play their AFC South Division games against the Texans on October 23 and end the season January 1 at Reliant Stadium.

I thought about doing the TransGriot prognosticator thing for the 2010 NFL season but got distracted with other issues and before I realized it the first two weeks of the season had elapsed. 

Speaking of the Texans, will this finally be the year they make it to the playoffs?   Once again they start the season with their AFC South Division nemesis the Indianapolis Colts at Reliant, and hope they can repeat what they did to the Colts in last year's season opener.

With all this talent on the squad, I hope they can take it a step further and win the division.   They lost six games by a touchdown or less and flip that stat and they win the division.   But they wouldn't have stayed in the playoffs long with their corners and secondary getting toasted like Quiznos subs. 

Well, that's why Wade Phillips was hired.  The defense is getting a 3-4 makeover with Mario Williams moving to outside linebacker and free agents safety Johnathan Joseph and corner Danieal Manning being plugged in to vastly improve the Texans secondary.  

Now that training camps for all 32 NFL squads are open and the NFL is about to kick off its preseason slate of games on August 11,  I'm beyond ready for some football to be played.   I'm also interested in seeing how all the old faces in new NFL places affect their teams and who gets to play in the Super Bowl at Lucas Oil Stadium.

And I know y'all are waiting to see if the TransGriot can actually do a better job than those well paid NFL analysts on CBS, NBC, FOX and ESPN in picking this season's games.